The Appropriate Word for This
by Jin1
Summary: YAOI ficlet. Inspired by miriya's "Hyuga Persuasion." NejiNaru. Neji returns to Naruto after three weeks of separation.


Title: "The Appropriate Word for This"  
Author: jin  
Rating: PG-13  
Genre: romance  
Pairing: NejixNaruto  
POV: First person (although it doesn't seem like it at first)  
Spoilers: Up to manga chapter 197  
**Warnings: yaoi (boyxboy love), sexual themes and descriptions**  
Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto is the creator of Naruto. This is merely a work of fiction by a fan.  
Feedback: Most appreciated.  
Timeline: Neji is 20 and Naruto is 19. They are both jounins.  
Summary: Neji returns to Naruto after three weeks of separation.

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Imagine this: the cold has seeped through your clothes and seemingly down to your very bones as you walk in the dark of night under the heavily pouring rain. However, the chill becomes only a slight problem when you catch sight of his home, that single room trash pit that you have come to love. You smile slightly, something you seldom do so you chalk it up to the three weeks of separation. Three weeks without him, you can hardly believe it.

Imagine this: you quietly open the door and you see him laughing but not alone. He is with that Uchiha boy, who you have caught at the moment with a smile. Uchiha notices you and the smile disappears. You do not look at him kindly either. In fact, you do not like him at all. However, much like the cold, Uchiha becomes insignificant when a beautiful blond suddenly rushes at you and jumps into your arms, the cry of "Neji! You're back!" sounding like the best welcome to your ears.

Imagine this: he wraps his legs around your waist, his arms around your neck and his face pressed against the side of your head as he places a soft and furtive kiss on your wet hair. You, who were and are never an advocate of public affection, hold him for a few seconds. It might be due to those three weeks of separation yet again or it could be because that Uchiha boy is watching and you find yourself wanting to prove something. After a few seconds, though, you tell him that he is heavy and making a scene to boot. The Uchiha boy narrows his eyes at your tone but he doesn't understand. The warmth of that embrace has already started to crumble you from within even if you had just come in from the cold. Too much and you might not be able to hold yourself, and control is not something you want to lose, especially not in front of Uchiha. Yet he, the one who willingly runs into your arms, understands you. He stands before you, eyes still alight with happiness at just seeing you...at just having touched you once again. Then you wonder, 'How could I be so lucky?'

Scenarios such as those are only a taste of his charm. Even now as I relax in a hot bath that he has prepared for me, I wonder still about my luck at having Naruto. I never used to believe in luck. Isn't it the antithesis of fate? I would not believe that being with Naruto is fate. The idea is preposterous and forces me to acknowledge a few things that I am hesitant to deal with. Yet weren't we pulled towards each other over and over again? From respecting each other as ninjas after our first chuunin exam to the tentative friendship, the slow build of trust and then this. This--what was the appropriate word for this?

Unable to answer with some level of truth, I marvel instead at Naruto's appropriately timed entrance. He comes into the bathroom without knocking, giving me a careless smile.

"What happened to your friend?" I ask, trying to sound unaffected but I truly do not like that Uchiha. He looks at Naruto in a way that only I have license to. Nonetheless, Naruto insists that they are best friends and it truly does seem that Uchiha Sasuke's only friend, in the real sense of the word, is Naruto. So I tread calmly when dealing with that topic.

"I made him leave," Naruto answers with a smirk. He comes closer, his eyes never leaving my gaze, and he kneels by the side of the tub. "I didn't think you'd want an audience." He reaches out a hand to cup my cheek, the only signal I ever needed, and then we are kissing. These are not the kisses of sweet romance novels with the slow and tentative taste. I have been without his kisses for three weeks; there will not be anything slow or tentative about my kiss.

I pull Naruto closer, one hand tugging his arm and the other behind his neck. But I insist we be closer still so Naruto maneuvers himself to sit atop me in the tub and I move my arms around his waist. Our kiss never halted in the interim.

Kissing has since ceased to be about the sweetness of each other's taste because, we found out quickly, the taste is rarely sweet. As I plunge my tongue into Naruto's mouth and curl it around his own, I know that our kisses are about feeling. Touch can be powerful. My shivers prove it, as he skims his hand down my chest. The touch of his lips on mine, the feel of his mouth welcoming me, the sensation of rough but soft tongue clashing against my own--these things make the kisses exquisite. Knowledge that only I have felt this kind of response from Naruto excites me. Taste can be gained by others easily. An accident or an intention to kiss Naruto without his consent can allow just about anyone to get a taste of Naruto. However, the willing response is only mine to cherish. The moan that reverberates from Naruto's throat, the one that I feel now more than I hear it, is wholly mine. So as I kiss Naruto like a man who has hungered for it for three weeks, I revel in feeling.

But Naruto pulls away from the kiss. "Neji...." There is a discontinued note to the murmur of my name. There is more he wants to say but I don't let him continue as I suck on his soft neck. "Aaah!" Naruto is particularly sensitive there. 

"But, Neji, the tub is too small. Besides the water is starting to get cold," he protests breathlessly, all the while holding my head close to his throat. 

I nip softly at his neck and say, "Then boil some more water." I proceed to lick his Adam's apple, feeling it rise and fall with every moan. He takes one of my hands and purposely lowers it to cradle his perfectly rounded rear. I push him to me even as I buck against him.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"

Ow?

"You're crushing my leg!" he informs me loudly. True enough, when I had jerked up against him, one of his legs was crushed between me and the tub. "I told you the tub was too small. Move sideways so I can get out."

I twist slightly, in some disbelief that he had just so casually ended our kissing. He gets out and smiles that usual careless smile as if he had not just ruined a moment. As he stands there with his clothes dripping from his foray into the tub with me, he appears comical and so I let myself smile wryly. I can never win against Naruto.

"It's my turn to take a bath anyway," he declares as he removes his wet pants, uncaring that I was observing him intensely. Clad only in a half-wet shirt and totally wet, clinging boxer shorts, he winks and leaves while saying, "You better be done by the time I finish boiling my water."

After such a display, I slide further down the tub with a groan. For all of Naruto's understanding of me, he is far too insensitive to basic feelings.

the end...maybe


End file.
